Private equity firms' top executives often make more than the heads of tech behemoths like Facebook and Apple, The New York Times reports. How? The secret lies in the story of the Twinkie: In early 2013, private equity firms spent $186 million to buy Hostess' snack-cake brands, including Twinkies. This year, the revived Hostess sold for $2.3 billion. But the company employs only 1,200 people, a fraction of the roughly 8,000 workers who worked at the snack maker in 2012.
Hostess is just one example of how the biggest investors earn their fortunes through reviving defunct companies — though oftentimes at the expense of their labor forces. Read more at The New York Times.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
-
81 things Donald Trump has said about womenThe Explainer The former president has a long history of controversial remarks about the opposite sex
-
Video games to play this fall, from 'Call of Duty: Black Ops 6' to 'Assassin's Creed Shadows'The Week Recommends 'Assassin's Creed' goes to feudal Japan, and a remaster of horror classic 'Silent Hill 2' drops
-
'This is but one of a string of troubles confronting the agency'Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Empty-nest boomers aren't selling their big homesSpeed Read Most Americans 60 and older do not intend to move, according to a recent survey
-
Brazil accuses Musk of 'disinformation campaign'Speed Read A Brazilian Supreme Court judge has opened an inquiry into Elon Musk and X
-
Disney board fends off Peltz infiltration bidSpeed Read Disney CEO Bob Iger has defeated activist investor Nelson Peltz in a contentious proxy battle
-
Disney and DeSantis reach detenteSpeed Read The Florida governor and Disney settle a yearslong litigation over control of the tourism district
-
Visa and Mastercard agree to lower swipe feesSpeed Read The companies will cap the fees they charge businesses when customers use their credit cards
-
Reddit IPO values social media site at $6.4 billionSpeed Read The company makes its public debut on the New York Stock Exchange
-
Housing costs: the root of US economic malaise?speed read Many voters are troubled by the housing affordability crisis
-
Feds cap credit card late fees at $8speed read The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau finalized a rule to save households an estimated $10 billion a year
